Travis Wall is in his fourth season as the head men's soccer coach at St. Olaf in 2022-23. He was hired as St. Olaf's eighth head men's soccer coach on Dec. 18, 2018.
During his time at St. Olaf, Wall has led the Oles to a 43-18-3 (.695) record, including a 22-7-1 (.750) mark in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. The Oles have appeared in the "Sweet 16" of the NCAA Tournament in each of the last two seasons, making the program one of just five NCAA Division III men's soccer programs in the country to accomplish that feat. Wall also guided St. Olaf to the 2021 MIAC regular-season title and the 2022 MIAC Playoffs title.
In 2022, St. Olaf advanced to the "Sweet 16" for the second-straight season after defeating Lake Forest College and No. 10 North Central College (Ill.) in the opening rounds before falling in a shootout. As the No. 2 seed in the MIAC Playoffs, the Oles blanked Bethel University, 3-0, in the semifinals before claiming their third tournament title with a 2-1 come-from-behind victory at top-seeded and fifth-ranked Gustavus Adolphus College behind Robi Buzakovic's second goal of the game with 1:01 remaining. St. Olaf finished the season 15-5-2 overall and 7-2-1 in conference play, with three of its five losses coming to top-10 opponents. The Oles also went 9-0-0 at home, winning all of their home games for the fourth time in program history (first since 1998). The 2022 team had four All-MIAC honorees - including the Offensive Player of the Year (Shea Bechtel) and the Rookie of the Year (Robi Buzakovic) - to go with one Honorable Mention All-MIAC selection, 14 Academic All-MIAC honorees, six College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-District honorees, four United Soccer Coaches All-Region IX selections, one United Soccer Coaches All-American, one United Soccer Coaches Scholar All-Region honoree, and the program's first-ever United Soccer Coaches Scholar All-American.
In 2021, Wall led St. Olaf to arguably the most successful season in program history, as the Oles matched their deepest-ever run in the NCAA Tournament by advancing to the "Sweet 16." St. Olaf set a new single-season program record for wins in a season by finishing 19-3-1 and the 19 victories also were tied for the most of any team in the country in NCAA Division III. The Oles became just the fifth team in the history of the MIAC to go 10-0 in conference play on their way to winning the fourth outright (seventh overall) MIAC regular-season championship in program history. After leading St. Olaf to the historic season, Wall was named the MIAC Coach of the Year by his peers and he and assistant coaches Justin Oliver and Ben Braman were named the United Soccer Coaches NCAA Division III Region IX Coaching Staff of the Year at the end of the season.
St. Olaf tied the program's longest unbeaten streak with a 16-game streak where the Oles went 15-0-1 from Sept. 12 through Nov. 3, which included a record-tying 15-straight wins from Sept. 15 through Nov. 3. After not being ranked since 2015, the Oles spent six weeks in the United Soccer Coaches Top 25, peaking at No. 10 in the country twice, which was the program's highest ranking since 2011. St. Olaf concluded the season ranked No. 15, marking the joint-highest year-end ranking in program history in the poll. The Oles were also ranked in the D3soccer.com Top 25 in five-straight polls, wrapping up the season at No. 12.
For the first time in program history, St. Olaf had two United Soccer Coaches All-America honorees in the same season, as sophomore Victor Gaulmin was named to the first team and sophomore Hakeem Morgan earned a spot on the second team. The duo were two of only five sophomores nation-wide to be named All-Americans and made St. Olaf one of 11 programs in the country with multiple All-Americans. Gaulmin and Morgan were also two of four Oles to be United Soccer Coaches All-Region honorees and were two of the program's three first-team selections. St. Olaf also had a program record and conference-record-tying six All-MIAC honorees in 2021, including the league's Midfielder of the Year (Victor Gaulmin) and Rookie of the Year (Shea Bechtel).
In his first season on the Hill, Wall led the Oles to their first appearance in the MIAC Playoffs since 2015, as St. Olaf finished 9-10 overall and 5-5 in the MIAC. Under his guidance, St. Olaf had five student-athletes earn All-MIAC or Honorable Mention All-MIAC honors, which was the highest total for the program since 1993. The Oles were picked eighth in the MIAC Preseason Coaches' Poll but defeated three teams picked ahead of them to return to the MIAC Playoffs and post the program's highest win total and MIAC win total since 2015.
After the COVID-19 pandemic wiped out the fall 2020 season, St. Olaf played eight exhibition contests in the spring of 2021 and St. Olaf went 4-2-2 in those eight games with wins over Augsburg, Bethel, St. Thomas, and Concordia-Moorhead.
A former NCAA Division III National Player of the Year, Wall came to St. Olaf after four seasons on the staff at his alma mater, Ohio Wesleyan University, under Jay Martin, the winningest coach in NCAA men's soccer history. After joining Martin's staff in 2015 as an assistant coach, Wall was promoted to associate head coach in April 2017 and also served as the recruiting coordinator for the Battling Bishops.
In Wall's four seasons on the coaching staff at Ohio Wesleyan, the Battling Bishops posted a combined record of 51-21-9 (.685), including a mark of 25-5-6 (.778) in the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC). Ohio Wesleyan made three NCAA Tournament appearances and advanced to the NCAC Tournament title game three times in his four seasons on staff.
Wall also served as Ohio Wesleyan's camp director, recruiting coordinator, travel coordinator and assisted in the development of training plans. He recruited the 2016, 2017 and 2018 NCAC Freshmen of the Year and also coached the NCAC Offensive and Defensive Players of the Year in 2015.
As a student-athlete at Ohio Wesleyan, Wall was a two-time NSCAA First Team All-American (2010, 2011) and was named the NSCAA National Player of the Year after captaining the Battling Bishops to the 2011 NCAA Division III National Championship, with Wall scoring in each of the team's final four games in the NCAA Tournament. As a senior, Wall finished fifth in the country in points (53), ninth in goals (19) and fourth in assists (15) as a member of the third-highest-scoring team in the country.
Over his four-year career at Ohio Wesleyan, Wall's teams went a combined 78-11-5 (.856), as he finished his career in the program's top-five in goals (49), assists (36) and points (134). Following his career, Wall was named to the North Coast Athletic Conference Men's Soccer All-Decade Team (2003-12). During his sophomore season, Wall started all 22 games for the team that boasted the statistically-best defense in the country, allowing just six goals in over 2,000 minutes to lead the country in shutout percentage (.773) and goals-against average (0.27).
Wall went on to play professional soccer for Minnesota United FC (formerly Minnesota Stars FC) of the North American Soccer League (NASL) from April 2012 to January 2014, after spending preseason with the Columbus Crew of Major League Soccer (MLS).
Wall's coaching career started at the University of St. Thomas, where he was an assistant coach during the 2012 and 2013 seasons, helping guide the Tommies to a record of 21-9-7 (.662). There, he assisted with all facets of the program and designed and implemented offseason cardio programs.
In 2014, Wall served as the Director of Soccer Operations at Division I Xavier University, as the Musketeers advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. At Xavier, he worked with the 2014 BIG East Staff of the Year during a season that saw the Musketeers set program records for wins, shutouts and goals-against average.
Wall also carries three seasons of high-level club coaching experience as the head coach of the U19 Ohio Premier Soccer Club Green team and was named the 2018 United Soccer Coaches Midwest Regional Coach of the Year. In 2018, he led the team to the U19 Elite National Premier League (ENPL) National Championship with a team that had eight members sign to play at Division I programs, including Elite Clubs National League (ECNL) National Player of the Year Luke Kiley. The team finished in fifth place at US Youth Soccer (USYS) Nationals in 2017 and was a semifinalist in 2016.
Wall graduated from Ohio Wesleyan in 2012 with a Bachelor of Arts and went on to earn his Master's in recreation and sport sciences from Ohio University in June 2016. In 2017, Wall obtained his C License from U.S. Soccer Federation. His older siblings, Tyler and Sarah, were both three-time All-America selections in soccer at Ohio Wesleyan.